Jesper Møller Sørensen

Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs, Embassy of Denmark, Washington, D.C.

Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Jesper Moller Sørensen is the head of the political section at the Embassy of Denmark, Washington D.C. The main task of the political section is reporting to the Danish Government on U.S. foreign policy issues. Issues related to the Middle East and Transatlantic relations are followed particularly closely by the Embassy.

The political section also prepares and organizes visits and meetings for Danish cabinet members, members of Parliament, and government officials, among others. As head of the Political Section, Mr. Sørensen supervises career diplomats and support staff.

Prior to his current assignment in the United States, Mr. Sørensen was Deputy Head of Department for Security Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen. In this position, his main area of responsibility was European Security and Defense Policy. He was the Danish representative in a series of seminars and conferences that led to the European Security Strategy adopted by the European Council in December 2003. He also gave presentations on security issues at Danish Universities, the Defense Academy, and other institutions engaged in security policy.

From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Sørensen was Deputy Head of Mission to Turkey. During his tenure in Ankara in 2002, Denmark held the Presidency of the European Union. As chairman of EU Political Counselors group, he worked closely with high-ranking Turkish officials and monitored Turkey's progress in fulfilling the political criteria for starting accession negotiations with the European Union. He also worked extensively on regional issues, particularly Cyprus and Iraq, in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Sørensen is the author of a book about Turkey-EU relations published in May 2005. The book — which translated from Danish is "Turkey – Making It Through the Eye of the EU Needle" — led to public debate. As a consequence, Mr. Sørensen was invited to participate in national and local television and radio programs. Mr. Sørensen has also published a range of articles in the Danish media on domestic and international affairs.

In 2004, Mr. Sørensen worked as an external assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen. For two semesters he offered the course “Modern Turkey” (history, current internal and external issues, EU-Turkey relations) to students following the Master’s program.

Mr. Sørensen began his Foreign Service career in 1997 in the office responsible for EU enlargement. He later worked in the office responsible for Africa. In this position, he traveled to several African countries.

Before entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Sørensen worked at the University of Copenhagen as an assistant to the professor responsible for the Jean Monnet European Lectures Series. In 1996, he completed an internship at NATO headquarters, Bruxelles, where he worked for the International Secretariat.

Mr. Sørensen was born on August 3, 1970. Raised in Silkeborg, Denmark, he earned a B.A. in Political Science from Aarhus University. He then received a Masters degree from Copenhagen University.